Assassination Attempt: Trump Shot in Ear During Rally
Former US President, Donald Trump, announced on Saturday that he was “shot with a bullet that pierced his ear” in an apparent assassination attempt. The 78-year-old was swiftly evacuated from the stage of a rally in Pennsylvania after sounds resembling gunshots were heard. Eyewitnesses reported that the shooting during Trump’s campaign rally appeared to have originated from a one-story building with a white roof situated to the right of the stage. The suspected shooter, who wounded the Republican presidential candidate, was subsequently declared dead. The US Secret Service confirmed that the apparent assassination attempt involved “multiple shots fired toward the stage from an elevated position outside the rally venue.”
President Donald Trump appeared to be the target of an alleged assassination attempt in the middle of an election rally on Saturday in Pennsylvania. Trump was immediately pulled from the stage, with his ear covered in blood, after shots were heard during his campaign rally ahead of the 2024 US presidential election. Secret Service agents and his campaign officers swiftly rushed to the stage and formed a barricade around the former US president, who is reportedly “fine” after the assassination attempt.
The attack, carried out by a shooter who law enforcement officials say was subsequently killed by the Secret Service, marks the first attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. This incident occurs amid a deeply polarized political atmosphere, just four months before the presidential elections and days before Trump is to be officially named the Republican nominee at his party’s convention.
The shooter has been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park. Crooks was reportedly waiting on the roof of a manufacturing plant over 130 yards away from the stage before opening fire. The FBI has yet to determine a motive behind the attack.
Officials confirmed that after Crooks fired shots, he was engaged by members of the heavily-armed U.S. Secret Service counterassault team and killed. It remains unclear whether Trump was struck by gunfire or injured during the commotion as he was pulled to the ground by agents.
While Trump was speaking at the rally, a popping sound was heard, after which the billionaire businessman clutched his ear. Two more shots were heard as he crouched down on the stage. It took two minutes from the moment of the first shot for Trump to be placed in a waiting SUV.
Someone could be heard saying near the microphone at Trump’s lectern, “Get down, get down, get down, get down!” as agents tackled the former president. They piled atop him to shield him with their bodies, as is their training protocol, while other agents took up positions on stage to search for the threat.
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